A range of studies has repeatedly demonstrated that creativity is vital for organisations. Creativity and innovation are the number one strategic priorities for 72 per cent of businesses.

Many professionals are confused by creativity and believe it is indefinable, immeasurable and resistant to development. Against a backdrop of uncertainty, economic turmoil and unprecedented change, a new picture is emerging of the skills and traits for success (and perhaps even simply survival) in the modern era.

At the heart of this essential skill-set for the future lies creativity. A raft of recent research studies demonstrates that creativity is vital from the shop-floor to the boardroom and at the level of the individual to the organisation as a whole.

What is more, our economic fortunes at a societal level probably rest on creativity too. Below are seven themes that convinced me:

  • Creativity and innovation are the Number 1 strategic priorities for organisations the world over.

The Boston Consulting Group has been running an annual strategy survey for the last eight years. For seven out of eight years, creativity and innovation have been the top-ranked strategic imperative.

Hardly surprising, it is innovation and creativity that enable the development of new ways of working that ensure profitability.

  • Creativity is part of all our day jobs.

Many researchers would agree that creativity is concerned with producing ideas that are original and useful in order to solve problems and exploit opportunities. Not just for chief executives or arch-strategists, but for all of us. We can all find original and useful ways of solving the problems we encounter. In some industries and sectors, it may not be so much that ‘we can', but rather that ‘we must'. n Organisational profitability rests on individual creativity.

Academic researchers have begun to converge on the opinion that considerable evidence now suggests that employee creativity can make a substantial contribution to an organisation's growth and competitiveness.

  • Creative teams perform better and are more efficient.

In a research study of creative teams in industry, Gilson, Mathieu, Shalley and Ruddy found that teams that were more creative scored higher on objective measures of performance and were also found to work more effectively within budgets.

  • Creative organisations are more profitable.

First, creative companies harness the creativity within the organisation to improve or invent new products, processes and services. Similarly, within the research frameworks that have examined the characteristics of high-performing companies, creativity features strongly.

The Accenture Institute of High Performance found that such organisations created powerful strategies, encouraged deep insight, originality and the engagement of creativity across all employees. Lastly, these companies invested disproportionally in recruiting and developing people. n Creative leadership is fundamental.

Creativity is vital for individuals, teams and organisations. Little wonder then that in a global survey of 1,500 CEOs, IBM found that creativity was considered to be the Number 1 leadership trait for the future. Why?

Leaders will need to be creative to stay abreast of rapid change. Further, they will need to orchestrate and encourage creativity across all the levels for which creativity is important.

They will need to identify and develop creativity in individuals, build and nurture creativity in teams and set the culture and align processes to promulgate creativity throughout the whole organisation.But it doesn't stop there. n Successful economies and societies will need to be creative.

Successful economies will need to utilise cash, commodities and creativity. Given that for much of the western world supplies of cash and commodities stand exhausted, creativity may be all there's left.

 

Professor Mark Batey holds the joint chair of psychometrics at the Work Research Group, Manchester Business School.